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How many times did we, Democrats living in big cities, say among friends, “It’s unimaginable to think of Donald Trump becoming president?” It turns out, unimaginable is a brain trick: If you cannot imagine it, you cannot think it, or admit evidence to the contrary. It’s a diagnosable state of being out of our minds on a certain subject. Like Trumpism. Which is why we lost.

I was chastened when a Republican friend sent me an article from National Review by Lee Habeeb, a reasonable conservative VP of Content for Salem Radio Network:

Famed author Gail Sheehy spun out a commencement address to the University of Vermont’s Class of 2016 that transported her audience back to the UVM alumna’s own college days in the late 1950s, put them on the presidential campaign trail in 1968, and dared to ponder the essential definition of humanity in our technological age.

Putting a new spin on French philosopher Rene Descartes’ famous phrase “I think, therefore I am,” Sheehy told the grads, “Today, we may better define what sets us apart as humans with a different declaration: ‘I care, therefore I am.’ Caring may be the key to establishing the unity of mankind.”

“All the things that are supposed to be so wrong with women—you talk too much, you’re too emotional, you change your mind all the time—we consider these to be advantages,” Cat Lincoln told me when I interviewed her about the popular Silicon Valley company she founded with her friends Stefania Pomponi and Kristy Sammis.Clever Girls Collective, which connects major brands with popular (mainly female) bloggers for advertising campaigns, has found success not by emulating the male-dominated culture of other tech companies, but by prioritizing personal connection over algorithms, teamwork over cut-throat competition, and above all, flexibility.

Politico Magazine this week runs its annual “Why They Mattered” feature, selecting recently deceased politicos to highlight. I was asked to tell the story of chemist Carl Djerassi, who called himself “Father of the Pill.”

Standard websites gave the brilliant self-promoter credit, but failed to mention the two women activists who actually funded the research and fought the Supreme Court for legalization – Margaret Sanger, forerunner of Planned Parenthood, and philanthropist Katharine McCormick.

On my latest Women Who Dare episode, I speak with Meaghan Ybos – a rape survivor who has dared to dedicate her career to changing the statue of limitations on rape kits in Tennessee. Her work will lead to a reversal of the overwhelming and inexcusable rape kit backlog – a consequence of careless police work – and hope for more convictions.

Click below to listen to Meaghan’s daring journey from rape survivor to advocate:

Gail’s latest radio episode of Women Who Dare features a woman who confesses, at age 40, “I forgot to get married! I forgot to have a child!” Ashley Bryan squeezed in those two milestones by 43, but then dared to become an “Alpha Daughter,” caring for her mother with Alzheimer’s while her husband was the stay-at-home dad.

Click below to listen to the amazing story of how she founded a brilliant app for caregivers so you can actually help a loved one slow the progression of memory loss. This episode originally aired on 11/24 on OurAmericanNetwork.org.

Hillary Clinton does not shrink or shriek in the face of ISIS. She is the only candidate ready to respond in real time, with Presidential authority, on how to fight a metastasizing monster. That’s because she has what none of her competition does – a vision. And yes, I know, that foolishly devalued credential– experience.

Trump’s childish threats, Jeb’s Islamophobia, Bernie’s begging CNN to hold off on national security questions, Rubio’s repeat of George W’s knee-jerk crashing of another country’s civil war — all these are emotional outbursts. (Isn’t that supposed to be women’s weakness?)

With seemingly little alarm from society, our smartphones, iPads, and Kindles have become our best friends. In this latest Women Who Dare episode, Gail speaks with renowned sociologist, Sherry Turkle, who dared to be one of the first researchers on the social and psychological impacts of technology. This episode originally aired on 11/10 on OurAmericanNetwork.org.

Gail is back with another inspiring Women Who Dare episode, which originally aired live on OurAmericanNetwork.org on Tuesday, 10/27, 10p.m. ET. This time, we hear the story​ of a chiropractor who dared to give up everything and go back to school at age 50 to pursue an unconventional cure for autism.

World-renowned journalist Gail Sheehy brings Our American Network a twice a month feature — Women Who Dare. For this inaugural episode, we hear the story of a daring 26-year-old journalist from Boise, Idaho, who has been crossing into war-ravaged Syria for the last four years to give voice to young rebels in their fight against ISIS and Assad.